By late afternoon yesterday, as the sun set on Stamford Bridge and John Terry cavorted playfully on the pitch with his young twins Georgie and Summer - in Chelsea kits both with their names proudly emblazoned on the back, a world of ambition separated the clubs.

Chelsea, fortified by Terry's steel, energised by Frank Lampard's persistence and electrified by the effervescent Didier Drogba, know that summit meetings with Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal during the two coming months will define the significance of their unbeaten start.

Tottenham, on the other hand, must now fight to convince their supporters that the dazzling form of August was not another cruel mirage.

What is more, they must almost certainly do so without any of the four recognised central defenders on their books after losing both Ledley King and Sebastien Bassong to injury during a second half that became a slide into oblivion as a tiny gap between the sides became a yawning chasm.

Clearly, the secrets they have learned at White Hart Lane of how to beat Chelsea in recent seasons do not apply at Stamford Bridge, and on this evidence their miserable record of not having won there since 1990 will continue for some time.

The paradox that this match presented was that for half an hour Spurs offered the more potent threat.

Harry Redknapp sprang a surprise by releasing Aaron Lennon into a roving role behind Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe, and Chelsea's defenders didn't quite know whether to follow the England winger from flank to flank or to try to manage more the gaps he was creating.

A case in point arrived after 15 minutes. Lennon drifted over to the left, picking up the ball in space. As he threatened an angled run, Ricardo Carvalho stood off him, so Lennon simply stroked the ball easily into the path of Jermaine Jenas, whose scorching drive flew inches wide.

The trouble was that, while Tottenham's peaks were spiky, they were also isolated. Too often the front trio were despatched upfield with little support.

Chelsea, by contrast, moved as a unit, one whose powerful insistence could eventually no longer be contained.

Lucky 13: Michael Ballack gets the better of Bassong to score

If the opening 32 minutes brought only a rasping 20-yard Jose Bosingwa shot which struck the junction of post and bar and rebounded to safety, their next attack was clinical.

Drogba curled a diagonal low cross in at pace from the right. Vedran Corluka, who endured a torrid afternoon, lost his bearings at the far post and Ashley Cole suddenly darted in front of the Croat, stooped and conquered with a diving header little more than eight inches above the turf.

Badge of honour: Drogba clutches his shirt

True, it required the majestic Michael Essien to perform a surgically precise tackle at high speed to prise the ball out from under Lennon's feet as the free spirit attacked the Chelsea rearguard at full speed six minutes before halftime.

And, the home support also held its collective breath nine minutes after the interval when Keane stumbled under a Carvalho challenge in the area, but Chelsea, you felt, had been released.

It was unclear how much contact was made by Carvalho on Keane - there was some - but within three minutes the game was over.

Nicolas Anelka's deep cross was cushioned with impish precision on the chest of Drogba, whose shot on the swivel caused Carlo Cudicini to push away for a corner.

Except that, sensing the opportunity, Lampard wrapped his foot around the ball before it went out and squared it back across an empty goalmouth for the incoming Michael Ballack to steer home.

Defeat turned to embarrassment in the 63rd minute. A ball over the top found the galloping Drogba outpacing the wooden Corluka once more.

Drogba cut across his man and as the two converged and were met by the onrushing Cudicini, the ball popped out to the side, allowing Drogba to scoot around the keeper and side-foot the ball gleefully over the line.

The only question that remained was the margin of Chelsea's win. A Jon Mikel Obi volley squirmed under Cudicini, who somehow managed to shovel it out for a corner.

By the time Mikel's fellow substitute, Salomon Kalou, burst into the box in the 88th minute and struck a Tottenham post, the ball cannoning back against the hapless keeper, Cudicini would have been forgiven for questioning the wisdom of emerging from the sanctuary of Chelsea's reserves to try his luck at a starting role elsewhere.

Tottenham's misery, which had been compounded by King limping off three minutes into the second half and then the sorry sight of Bassong being stretchered off in clear distress, a brace around his neck, following an awkward tussle with Anelka, was completed six minutes into injury time.

Substitute Peter Crouch rounded Peter Cech and rolled home only for an offside flag to halt even the meekest of Tottenham celebrations. The division between the sides, it appears, remains unbridged.